Biaggi marks his territory at Brno

Biaggi marks his territory at Brno

Max Biaggi sent out a warning shot to his MotoGP rivals at the Brno circuit this afternoon with a new pole position record which plants him firmly at the front of the provisional starting grid for the Gauloises Grand Prix Ceske Republiky. Biaggi, who has taken seven career wins at this circuit, left it until the final seconds of a warm and sunny first qualifying session to post a lap of 1'59.520 and knock great Honda rival Valentino Rossi off the top of the time sheets, with Ducati rider Loris Capirossi the only other man to dip below the two minute mark. Tohru Ukawa took some valuable cornering tips off his team-mate Biaggi to set the fourth fastest time of the session and seal the final spot on the provisional front row.

Sete Gibernau made steady developments with the set-up of his Honda as he qualified fifth fastest, whilst Nicky Hayden continued his good progress from recent weeks with a provisional second row start in sixth. Carlos Checa was the quickest Yamaha, qualifying in seventh place ahead of factory colleague Shinya Nakano, who completes the second row. Proton Team KR switched back to their new V5 four-stroke today, with Jeremy McWilliams qualifying on the fourth row of the provisional grid in sixteenth.